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he  Political  Issues, 


BEFORE 


Jefferson  Chib,  No.  /, 


PRINGFIELD,LLL.,  AUGUST  2d.  1884. 

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SPRINGFIELD: 

Slate  Register,'  Steam  Book  Print, 
1884. 


THE  POLITICAL-  ISSUES. 


A  speech  delivered  by  James  A.  Creighton,  Esq  ,  before  Jefferson  Club  No.  1,  at  Spring- 
y  »  field,  Ill.,  August  2,  1884. 

■k 

Mr.  President ,  Members  of  Jefferson  Club  and  Fellow -Citizens: 

The  theory  upon  which  this  Government  is  founded  is  that 
K-  the  people  are  sovereign;  that  their  will  constitutionally  ex- 
pressed  shall  determine  its  policies  and  agencies.  It  therefore 
becomes  the  duty  of  every  citizen,  before  exercising  the  func¬ 
tions  of  sovereignty,  which  he  exercises  in  the  highest  degree 
when  casting  his  vote,  to  examine  into  the  condition  and  needs 
of  the  country  and  make  himself  acquainted  with  proposed 
measures  and  men,  and  until  he  has  done  this  and  can  vote  in¬ 
telligently  upon  living  issues  he  has  not  performed  the  duty  of 
,  a  good  citizen. 

Once  every  four  years  the  people  of  this  great  Democratic 
i  Republic  are  called  upon  to  adopt  governmental  policies  and  se¬ 
lect  agents  to  carry  into  effect  the  policies  adopted.  There  has 
been,  since  the  organization  of  this  government — yea,  since  be¬ 
fore  its  organization — two  lines*  of  political  doctrine  struggling 
for  mastery  in  this  country.  One  based  upon  the  belief  that 
governments  are  super-human  entities,  and  exist  by  some  sort 
of  superior  right  for  the  purpose  of  governing  the  people. 

The  adherents  of  this  doctrine,  tainted  with  lingering  traces 
of  fear  of  the  common  people  and  reverence  for  monarchy, 
would  have  made  Washington  king  and  the  people  subjects. 
Thwarted  in  this  by  the  patriotism  of  Washington,  they  favored 
an  aristocracy;  resisted  in  this  at  every  step  by  such  men  as 
Jefferson,  and  unable  to  force  it  upon  the  people,  they  iavored 
f  and  still  favor,  a  strong,  centralized  government,  as  far  removed 
from  the  people  as  possible,  with  large  paternal  powers,  and  few 
or  no  limitations. 

The  party  organizations  which  have  adhered  to  and  so  far 
as  lay  in  their  power  practiced  this  dangerous  and  un-American 
doctrine  are  the  Federal  party,  the  Loose  Constructionist,  the 
Whig  party,  the  Know-nothing  party,  and  the  modern  Repub¬ 
lican  party,  all  lineal  descendants  of  one  common  evil  ancestor. 
Mind,  I  say,  the  modern  Republican  party.  The  Republican 
party  of  1856  to  1864  was  not  the  Republican  party  of  to-day. 
Chase,  Sumner,  Seward,  Greely,  Curtin,  Palmer,  Trumbull  and 
a  host  of  pure  men  of  those  days  have  long  since  ceased  to 
govern  in  its  councils  or  affiliate  with  it.  The  party  of  1856  was 
born  of  an  emergency  and  died  when  that  emergency  passed 
away;  and  men  of  vastly  different  principles  and  for  vastly  dif- 


ferent  purposes  seized  upon  its  organization  and  prostituted  i 
to  their  own  base  ends. 

Tlio  nflicv  VvooDfl  n  foifli  in  fVin  nononifiT  nf  flin  noAnl! 


it 


The  other,  based  upon  faith  in  the  capacity  of  the  people 
to  govern  themselves,  the  belief  that  government  agencies 
should  be  servants  and  not  masters  of  the  people,  and  an 
abkorence  of  the  paternal  idea  in  government.  The  party 
organization  which  has  always  adhered  to  and  always  practiced 
these  safe  and  purely  American  principles  is  the  grand  old 
Democratic  party.  It  has  survived  the  Federal  party,  it  has 
survived  the  Loose  Construction  party,  it  has  survived  the  Whig1 
party,  it  has  survived  the  Know-nothing  party,  and  by  the 
patriotism  of  the  American  people  and  the  grace  of  the  eternal 
God  it  will  survive  the  modern  Republican  party  and  continue 
to  live.  Were  it  to  die  the  star  of  liberty  would  go  down  in 
darkness,  and  free  government  perish  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 
During  the  time  this  grand  peoples’  party  was  in  power  and  its 
policies  were  pursued  we  prospered  as  no  nation  upon  earth  ever 
prospered.  We  acquired  and  added  to  the  public  domain 
Florida,  Louisiana,  California,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Min¬ 
nesota,  Dakota,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Indian  Territory,  Texas,  Col¬ 
orado,  Wyoming,  Montana,  Idaho,  Washington  Territory,  Ore¬ 
gon,  Nevada,  Utah,  Arizona  and  New  Mexico;  increasing  our 
territory  200  per  cent,  and  extending  our  borders  from  the  Missis¬ 
sippi  river  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  And  the  modern  Republican  party 
preaching  and  practicing  paternal  government,  centralization, 
and  loving  and  fostering  monopolies,  giving  its  favors  to  the 
rich  and  its  promises  to  the  poor;  while  constantly  declaring 
that  the  public  domain  is  a  sacred  heritage  and  must  be  pre¬ 
served  for  homes  for  the  people,  has  actually  given  away  to 
great  corporations  and  allowed  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  aliens, 
vast  empires  of  this  sacred  heritage  (all  the  best  of  it)  more  in 
acreage  than  is  contained  in  all  the  cultivated  farms  in  the 
United  States  to-day.  While  at  the  same  they  have  refused  to 
the  soldiers  of  the  Mexican  war,  by  whose  valor  and  blood  most 
of  this  domain  was  won,  the  pitiful  pittance  of  a  pension  of  $8 
per  month.  With  these  pledges  in  their  mouths  they  returned 
from  Chicago  to  the  United  States  Senate  and  failed  to  pass  the 
pending  bill  to  forfeit  the  unearned  and  lapsed  railroad  land 
grants.  All  honest  men  agree  that  the  public  domain  is  a  sacred 
heritage  and  ought  to  be  preserved  for  homes  for  the  people. 


* 


The  political  issue,  is,  Can  the  Republican  party  be  trusted 
as  the  agents  of  the  people  to  “preserve  this  sacred  heritage?” 

We  answer ,  No.  By  sympathy,  by  education  and  by  practice 
the  Republican  party  is  incompetent  to  execute  this  trust.  No; 
that  party  would  vote  what  is  left  of  it  as  it  has  what  is  gone  to 
bloated  corporations,  composed  of  Republican  Congressmen  and 


English  lords;  and  they  to  encourage  “our  diversified  industries” 
would  sell  it  to  the  disinherited  settler  at  a  tariff  of  ten  dollars 
per  acre. 

'We  need  a  Navy  (we  have  none)  to  protect  our  interests 
upon  the  high  seas,  and  have  needed  it  for  nineteen  years. 
U  During  that  time  there  has  been  appropriated  and  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Republican  officials  for  the  purpose  of  repairing  and  re-, 
building  our  Navy  over  three  hundred  million  dollars  of  the 
people’s  money,  much  of  which  is  admitted  to  have  been  squan¬ 
dered,  and  all  of  which  was  so  misused  as  to  have  produced  no 
results,  and  to-day  even  little  Chili  in  South  America  laughs  our 
Navy  to  scorn. 

The  political  issue  is ,  Can  the  Republican  party  be  trusted 
as  the  agents  of  the  people  “to  restore  our  navy  to  its  old  time 
strength  and  efficiency.” 

We  ansvjer ,  No.  If  that  party,  with  three  hundred  million 
dollars,  in  nineteen  years  has  made  no  progress  towards  restor¬ 
ing  our  navy,  the  money  it  would  squander  would  be  too  much, 
and  the  time  it  would  consume  too  long  to  justify  the  people  in 
entrusting  the  Republican  party  with  this  important  government 
business. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  sails  of  American  ships 
whitened  every  sea,  when  the  masts  of  our  merchant  marine 
studded,  like  trees  of  the  forest,  every  harbor  upon  the  face  of 
the  globe,  and  the  star  spangled  banner  was  known  and  respected 
by  all  peoples  and  in  all  lands;  when  American  products  were  car¬ 
ried  by  American  merchants  and  American  sailors,  in  American 
ships,  to  every  market  in  the  world.  Rut  a  Republican  Congress 
imposed  burdens  upon  American  shipping,  as  a  part  of  its  policy 
of  imposing  burdens  upon  all  American  industries,  and  to-day 
American  shipping  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  It  has  succumbed  to 
the  burdens  imposed.  To-day  the  sails  of  our  ships  w’hiten  no 
^  seas,  the  masts  of  our  merchant  marine  stud  no  harbors,  the 
stars  and  stripes  are  neither  known  nor  respected  beyond  our 
#'  own  coasts;  no  American  merchant  nor  American  sailor  goes 
forth  into  the  marts  of  the  world  seeking  a  market  for  Ameri- 
>  can  products.  Our  export  trade  such  as  has  survived  the 
burdens  imposed  upon  it  is  taken  from  our  own  shores  by 
foreign  merchants,  at  their  own  price,  in  foreign  ships  by 
foreign  sailors,  to  their  own  ports,  and  by  them  distributed  to 
'  the  markets  of  the  world,  they  reaping  the  profits  of  carrying, 
the  profits  of  buying  and  selling  and  the  profits  of  seeking  and 
finding  the  best  markets  of  the  world.  The  present  desperate 
condition  of  our  carrying  and  foreign  trade  and  American  ship¬ 
ping  can  no  better  be  told  than  by  quoting  General  Wallace, 
United  States  Minister  to  Turkey,  (a  Republican).  He  says: 
“Turkey  is  naturally  a  rich  country;  has  thirty  millions  of  peo- 


6 

% 

pie;  they  manufacture  nothing,  but  are  dependent  for  the  most 
ordinary  necessaries  of  life  upon  foreigners.  What  is  needed  on 
our  side  is  that  we  should  have  ships  to  carry  our  products 
directly  to  that  country,  but  there  is  no  hope  for  us  so  long  as 
our  trade  is  carried  there  in  foreign  bottoms.  In  the  three 
years  that  I  have  been  at  Constantinople  (that  great  commercial  .  y 
center,  I  never  have  seen  our  flag  upon  a  ship  of  commerce  or  a 
steamer  there.”  In  1882  of  560  ocean  steamers  plying  the 
Atlantic  between  the  United  States  and  Europe  only  four  bore 
the  stars  and  stripes;  and  to-day  there  is  not  one.  This  tells  a  J 
tale  that  ought  to  bring  a  blush  to  the  face  of  every  American 
citizen,  and  stamp  as  ruinous  the  policy  and  as  criminally  in¬ 
competent  the  government  agency  that  has  produced  such  re- 
suits. 

The  political  issue  is ,  Can  the  American  people  trust  the 
Republican  party  as  its  agents  to  “  remove  the  burdens  that 
have  depressed  American  shipping  and  restore  it  to  its  old 
time  prestige  and  vigor?” 

We  answer,  Wo.  That  party  imposes  the  burdens.  Dur¬ 
ing  nineteen  years  of  profound  peace  it  has  continued 
the  burdens.  It  has  seen  our  hampered  producers  at  the  mercy 
of  foreigners,  has  seen  foreign  ship  owners  reaping  a  harvest  of 
a  hundred  million  dollars  a  year  in  carrying  American  products, 
has  seen  foreign  merchants  reap  the  profits  of  seeking  and  find¬ 
ing  a  market  for  American  goods.  Yea,  it  has  not  only  seen 
all  this  but  in  all  these  long  years  has  not  so  much  as  raised  a 
hand  or  spoken  a  word  in  Congress  to  remedy  it.  No,  that 
party  cannot  be  trusted  to  remove  these  burdens;  it  is  contrary 
to  the  arbitrary  and  abnormal  doctrines  upon  which  that  party 
is  founded,  that  permeates  its  whole  warp  and  woof,  which 
vicious  principle  distorts  its  judgment  and  lends  a  bias  to  its 
every  act. 

The  civil  service  of  the  country  needs  to  be  thoroughly  re-  ^ 
formed.  Its  condition  has  been  for  sixteen  years  a  crying  evil. 

It  has  become  corrupt  from  circumference  to  core. 

The  political  issue  is,  Can  the  country  trust  the  Republican 
party  as  its  agent  to  reform  these  abuses?  ^ 

We  answer,  No.  For  sixteen  years  the  Republican  party 
has  been  promising  to  reform  the  civil  service,  and  each  suc¬ 
ceeding  administration  has  left  it  worse  than  it  found  it.  No, 
it  cannot  be  trusted  to  accomplish  this  great  reform.  The  Re¬ 
publican  party  is  in  the  hands  of  corrupt  and  dishonest  men,  and 
the  honest  members  of  that  party  are  powerless  for  good  inside 
its  ranks. 

It  is  desirable  that  American  citizens,  native  or  naturalized, 
when  traveling  or  sojourning  abroad  should  have  the  protection 
of  the  American  government. 


The  political  issue  is.  Can  such  citizens  trust  the  Repub* 
lican  party  as  the  agent  of  this  government  to  extend  prompt 
and  proper  protection  in  such  cases? 

We  answer ,  No.  On  the  2d  day  of  June,  1881,  Daniel  Me- 
Sweeney,  a  naturalized  citizen  of  the  United  States,  while  on  a 
visit  to  Ireland  with  his  family  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  and 
no  charge  made  against  him.  He  demanded  a  hearing  and  a 
trial  of  the  English  government,  which  were  refused  him;  and  he 
demanded  the  protection  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Lowell,  the 
American  Minister  to  England,  did  not  heed  his  demands  for 
protection.  His  wife  wrote  a  most  pitiful  and  imploring  letter 
to  James  G.  Blaine,  then  Secretary  of  State,  calling  upon  this 
government  to  perform  its  duty  and  protect  her  innocent  hus¬ 
band;  but  Blaine  was  so  busy  with  his  South  American  guano 
schemes,  his  schemes  for  collecting  revenue  by  the  general  gov¬ 
ernment  from  whisky,  ale,  beer  and  wine  to  divide  up  among 
the  States,  and  his  electioneering  scheme  of  having  the  general 
government  assume  the  payment  of  the  repudiated  debt  of  the 
State  of  Virginia  (wonder  if  he  and  his  friends  control  any  of 
those  bonds)  that  he  had  no  time  to  even  answer  her  letter.  A 
brother  of  McSweeney  called  upon  Blaine  and  was  informed  that 
Lowell’s  action  was  in  strict  accordance  with  the  instructions  of 
his  government.  McSweeney,  in  his  letter  to  his  daughter, 
written  behind  the  bars  of  an  English  prison,  says:  “  Your 
mother  wrote  to  Mr.  Blaine  about  my  case,  but  that  gentleman 
did  not  deign  even  a  reply.” 

How  did  the  question  of  the  duty  of  this  government  to 
protect  its  citizens  become  a  political  issue?  Only  by  the 
neglect  of  this  government  through  its  agents,  the  Republican 
officeholders,  notably  James  G.  Blaine,  to  perform  that  duty  in 
the  case  of  McSweeney  and  other  similar  cases.  It  is  a  burn¬ 
ing,  damnable  shame  that  it  ever  should  have  become  a  political 
issue  in  this  country.  The  neglect  became  so  protracted,  so 
patent  that  the  whole  country  became  ablaze  with  indignation, 
and  public  meetings  were  held  from  one  coast  to  the  other;  and 
at  one  of  these  meetings  held  in  the  city  of  Buffalo  April  9, 
1882,  Grover  Cleveland  presided,  and  on  taking  the  chair  he 
said:  “But  when  in  the  westward  march  of  empire  this  nation 
was  founded  and  took  root,  we  beckoned  to  the  old  world  and 
invited  hither  its  emigration,  and  provided  a  mode  by  which 
those  who  sought  a  home  among  us  might  become  our  fellow 
citizens;  they  came  by  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands; 
they  came  and 

Hewed  the  dark  old  woods  away 

And  gave  the  virgin  fields  to-day. 

They  came  to  our  temples  of  justice  and  under  the  solemnity  of 
an  oath  renounced  all  allegiance  to  every  other  state,  potenteat 


8 


and  sovereignty,  and  surrendered  to  us  all  the  duty  pertaining 
to  such  allegiance.  They  have  surrendered  the  protection  of 
their  native  land,  we  have  accepted  their  fealty,  and  good  faith 
and  everv  dictate  of  honor  demands  that  we  give  them  the  same 
liberty  and  protection  here  and  elsewhere  which  we  vouchsafed 
to  our  native  born  citizens.”  How  grand,  how  true,  how  \ 
patriotically  inspired  are  these  words.  When  Wm.  L.  Marcy 
was  Secretary  of  State  and  Commodore  Ingraham  commanded  in  { 
the*  Navy,  and  Kosta,  who  had  renounced  his  allegiance  to  the 
sovereign  of  his  native  land  and  declared  his  intention  of  be- 
coming  an  American  citizen,  was  seized  and  imprisoned  by 
Austria,  Commodore  Ingraham  sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Trieste 
and  with  broadside  too,  demanded  the  surrender  of  Kosta  on 
penalty  of  blowing  the  town  and  fort  to  atoms.  Kosta  walked 
forth  a  free  man >  Under  Democratic  rule  this  question  was  not 
a  political  issue.  Compare  the  action  of  this  governmental 
agency  with  that  in  power  when  McSweeney’s  case  arose.  Com¬ 
pare  the  conduct  and  language  of  Cleveland  with  the  conduct 
and  language  of  Blaine  and  answer  me,  you  American  citizen  of 
foreign  birth,  yea  and  you  American  citizen  of  native  birth  who 
loves  mankind,  liberty  and  his  country,  can  the  modern  Repub¬ 
lican  party  be  trusted  as  the  agents  of  this  government  to  pro¬ 
tect  American  citizens  while  sojourning  abroad? 

It  is  desirable  that  American  labor  should  be  protected. 
There  was  a  time  when  the  importation  of  hoards  of  pauper 
labor  under  ironclad  contracts  at  starvation  wages  into  this 
country  to  compete  with  citizen  labor  was  not  practiced;  when  it 
was  not  necessary  for  laborers  to  strike  and  finally  submit  to  re¬ 
duction  after  reduction  in  wages;  when  tramps  were  unknown; 
when  the  laborer  was  respected  as  the  equal  of  any  man;  when 
he  could  acquire  a  home  and  property;  when  plenty  and  comfort 
was  well  nigh  universal  and  a  millionaire  almost  unheard  of. 
Now  the  manufacturing  districts  are  supplied  by  imported  ^ 
pauper  labor  under  contract  to  their  importers;  strikes  have  be¬ 
come  powerless  for  good;  wages  especially  in  the  protected  in¬ 
dustries  have  been  constantly  decreasing  from  year  to  year; 
wage  workers  are  compelled  to  be  much  of  the  time  out  of  em-  V 
ployment;  the  power  of  the  laborer  to  acquire  property  is  now 
the  exception  and  not  the  rule;  discontent  and  in  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  instances  want  and  destitution  stalk  abroad  in  the 
land;  vast  monopolies  prosper;  the  rich  are  becoming  richer 
and  the  poor  poorer;  we  are  fast  becoming  a  nation  of  million¬ 
aires  and  paupers.  This  is  the  result  of  abnormal  causes,  of 
arbitrary,  illadjusted  legislation  affecting  our  industries;  of  that 
policy  which  has  shut  us  out  from  the  world  and  turned  us  in 
upon  ourselves,  causing  the  strong  to  prey  upon  the  weak  and 
the  rich  to  consume  the  poor.  We  must  have  a  tariff  The 


9 


people  must  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  government,  for 
payment  of  the  interest  and  principal  of  the  national  debt,  for 
the  payment  of  pensions  to  our  soldiers,  their  widows  and 
orphans,  and  for  the  making  and  maintaining  of  all  necessary 
public  improvements;  and  there  is  no  better  way,  at  least  at 
t  present,  of  raising  these  vast  sums  of  money  than  by  a  tariff 
tax.  And  so  long  as  that  reliable,  patriotic  and  patient  beast  of 
burden ,  the  American  farmer,  who  pays  such  a  large  proportion 
^  of  this  tax  and  gets  so  little  in  return  for  it ,  is  willing  to  submit , 

*  there  will  be  no  very  large  party  in  this  country  opposed  to 
raising  all  the  money  needed  by  that  method.  But  the  tariff 
must  be  adjusted  so  as  to  protect  American  labor,  and  must  be 
reduced  to  the  legitimate  needs  of  the  government.  As  it  now 
is  it  hampers  and  cripples  labor  and  fosters  monopoly,  and  col¬ 
lects  from  the  people  and  takes  out  of  the  channels  of  trade  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  million  dollars  a  year  in  excess  of  all 
governmental  demands  of  every  kind  and  character,  including 
both  the  extravagant  expenditure  and  the  “leakage”  which  have 
drawn  so  heavily  upon  it  for  these  sixteen  long  years.  A  tariff 
of  ten  per  cent,  on  diamonds  and  comparatively  low  on  silks,  and 
a  hundred  per  cent,  on  socks  and  flannels,  is  ill-adjusted,  and  in¬ 
equitable.  A  tariff  that  lets  in  rosewood,  satin  wood  and  mahog- 
ony  wood  free  and  taxes  the  pine  boards  with  which  the  laborer 
builds  his  cottage  (if  he  ever  gets  able  to  build  one),  $2  per  thou¬ 
sand  is  a  monster  piece  of  wrong  which  discriminates  against  the 
poor  and  in  favor  of  the  rich.  A  tariff  tax  which  puts  three  dollars 
into  the  pockets  of  proprietors  of  protected  industries  for  every 
one  it  puts  into  the  national  treasury,  imposes  an  onerous  burden 
upon  that  part  of  the  people  who  pay  most  of  the  tax  and  get 
least  or  none  of  its  protection.  A  tariff  system  which  will 
enable  a  protected  industry  to  lie  idle  one-third  of  the  time  with 
its  employes  out  of  employment,  and  constantly  year  after  year 

|  reduce  wages  of  employes,  for  the  time  they  do  work;  and  still 
make  a  net  profit  per  annum  on  the  investment  of  thirty-seven 

*  per  cent,  calls  loudly  for  an  equitable  readjustment. 

The  political  issue  is,  Can  the  Republican  party  be  trusted 
as  the  agents  of  the  people  to  reduce  the  tariff  tax  and  correct  its 
inequalities  in  favor  of  labor? 

We  answer,  no.  It  created  these  inequalities  and  for  more 
than  twenty  years  has  maintained  them,  and  has  refused  to  cor¬ 
rect  them  though  admitting  that  they  exist.  Mr.  Blaine  says  in 
his  letter  that  this  system  produced  an  increase  of  wealth  from 
I860  to  1880  of  $30,000,000,000.  The  statement  is  utterly  false. 
The  assessed  value  of  all  the  property  in  1860  was  $12,000,000,- 
000  and  in  1880  was  $16,000,000,000.  In  his  estimate  Mr.  Blaine 
includes  the  292,000,000  acres  of  land  which  in  1860  was  public 
domain  and  not  estimated,  and  which  his  party  has  voted  away, 


V 


10 


and  which  is  now  scheduled  (not  for  taxation)  but  in  the  census 
reports  and  in  Wall  street  and  London  at  from  $5  to  $25  per 
acre  for  the  purpose  of  bolstering  the  bonds  and  watered  stock 
of  the  bloated  concerns  to  whom  it  has  voted  it,  which  will  not  be¬ 
come  accumulated  wealth  until  the  poor  disinherited  home¬ 
steader  or  emigrant  has  bought  it  back  from  the  corporations  to  jL 
which  the  Republican  party  has  voted  it,  and  by  privation,  toil 
and  economy  has  improved  it.  He  estimates  as  accumulated 
wealth  the  tens  of  thousand  miles  of  railroad  built  on  credit  jb 
since  1865,  many  times  the  cost  of  which  is  still  represented  by  ' 
debt  due  to  foreign  bondholders  for  the  money  used  and  squan¬ 
dered  in  building  them,  all  of  which  together  witli  interest  and 
dividends  on  watered  stock  representing  many  more  times  their 
cost  must  before  it  becomes  accumulated  wealth  be  earned  and 
paid  in  extortionate,  freights  and  charges  by  the  laborer  and 
farmer;  and  when  in  the  dim  distant  future  the  patient  plod¬ 
ding  beasts  of  burden  have  accomplished  this  result,  if  the  pres¬ 
ent  system  is  continued,  a  very  small  portion  of  the  accumulated 
wealth  will  fall  to  their  shares.  Of  these  and  such  items  does 
he  make  up  his  false  and  glittering  statement  that  under  our 
present  system  the  wealth  of  the  country  has  increased  $30,000,- 
000,000  in  twenty  years.  Every  laboring  man  knows  it  is  false; 
every  farmer  knows  it  is  false.  He  knows  he  has  not  got  his 
share  of  any  such  sum,  and  he  knows  his  neighbors  have  not  got 
their  share  of  it.  He  knows  that  it  exists  in  intangibilities  by  * 
which  men  who  have  not  earned  it  hope  to  draw  interest  and 
dividends  from  men  who  yet  have  it  to  earn.  In  the  same  letter 
he  says,  “No  dollar  of  the  public  revenue  has  been  wasted.” 
What  a  monstrous  falsehood!  Says:  “It  is  impossible  to  point 
to  a  single  monopoly  in  the  United  States  that  has  been  created 
or  fostered  by  the  industrial  system  which  is  upheld  by  the  Re¬ 
publican  party.”  What  a  bold,  brazen  falsehood!  Can  a  man 
who  so  misunderstands  the  facts  or  so  willfully  misstates  them  % 
be  trusted  as  the  agent  of  the  people  to  lead  in  effecting  these  re¬ 
forms?  ; 

It  is  desirable  for  the  bettering  of  the  condition  of  labor  A 
that  the  eight  hour  law  be  enforced.  Can  the  Republican  party  * 
be  trusted  to  enforce  that  law?  No.  It  has  been  a  dead  letter 
on  the  statute  books  for  twelve  years.  Each  incoming  officer 
has  sworn  to  obey  it,  and  each  has  sternly  refused  to  recognize 
it,  and  now  in  June,  1884,  at  Chicago,  they  resolve  that  they  are 
iii  favor  of  creating  a  commission  to  enforce  the  eight  hour  law. 
Great  God  have  mercy  on  a  suffering  people!  More  offices  to  be 
created.  What  for?  To  make  the  laboring  man  quit  work  when 
his  day’s  work  is  done.  Why,  within  a  year  a  delegation  of 
laborers  in  the  employ  of  the  government  called  upon  a  cabinet 
officer  and  demanded  the  right  to  quit  work  when  their  day’s 


11 


work  was  done.  He  refused  their  demands.  They  pointed  him 
to  the  law,  and  he  still  refused  to  pay  them  a  day’s  wages  for 
less  than  ten  hour’s  work,  or  to  keep  them  in  the  government 
employ  if  they  refused  to  work  more  than  eight  hours. 

No,  you  don’t  want  any  commission  to  keep  the  laborer  from 
working  ten  hours  for  a  day’s  work  if  you  will  pay  him  a  day’s 
wages  for  less  than  ten  hours  (tor  eight). 

He  does  not  need  the  papa  government  principle  applied  to 
that  extent. 

It  is  desirable  that  free,  honest  labor  should  not  be  compelled 
to  compete  with  prison  labor.  Can  the  Republican  party  be 
trusted  to  protect  the  laborers  of  this  state  from  such  degrading 
and  ruinous  competition*  No.  It  has  for  twenty-six  years  leased 
out  the  contract  labor  of  this  state  and  put  it  in  direct  competi¬ 
tion  with  free,  honest  labor;  and  though  recommending  at  Peoria 
the  passing  of  laws  for  the  protection  of  labor,  yet  they  have 
extended  the  convict  labor  leases  so  they  will  not  expire  for 
eight  years  yet.  What  limitless  hypocrisy  and  false  pretense! 

The  gi'eat  and  overshadowing  political  issve  is ,  can  Os  party 
in  power ,  holding  the  offices  and  machinery  of  the  government 
in  its  own  hands ,  he  made  hy  peaceful  means  to  yield  up  that 
power  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  people  constitutionally  ex¬ 
pressed .  That  submission  to  the  will  of  the  people  constitution¬ 
ally  expressed  can  in  this  country  be  compelled  by  force  of  fire 
and  sword,  was  demonstrated,  and  I  hope  and  pray  demonstrated 
once  for  all  time  to  come,  in  the  result  of  the  destructive,  bloody 
conflict  waged  from  1861  to  1865.  In  1860  the  people  of  this 
government  expressed  their  will  upon  measures  and  men,  and 
Abraham  Lincoln  was,  by  constitutional  methods,  elected  presi¬ 
dent  of  the  United  States;  not  by  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote, 
for  he  lacked  a  million  votes  of  having  a  majority  of  all  the  votes 
cast,  but  the  measures  and  men  of  the  Republican  party  secured 
a  sufficient  number  of  votes  in  the  electoral  college  to  entitle 
them  under  the  constitution  to  carry  into  effect  their  policies  and 
have  Lincoln  recognized  as  president  of  the  United  States,  in 
every  part  of  the  United  States,  and  by  all  the  people  in  the 
United  States.  When  the  result  was  known  a  stubborn  and 
refractory  element,  composed  largely  of  men  who  adhered  to  the 
Democratic  party,  refused  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the  people 
thus  expressed.  In  the  terrible  struggle  which  ensued  to  com¬ 
pel  their  submission  2,600,000  men  were  called  to  arm c. in  sup¬ 
port  of  the  government,  to  enforce  submission  to  the  will  of  the 
people.  2,600,000  men  were  marshalled  in  the  union  army, 
and  of  that  number  over  1,200,000  were  Democrats  who  had  op¬ 
posed  the  measures  of  the  Republican  party  and  the  election  of 
Lincoln;  but  they  loved  their  country,  and  1,200,000  of  them  re¬ 
sponded  to  their  country’s  call  and  went  forth  shoulder  to 


shoulder  with  their  political  adversaries  and  victors  to  compel 
submission  to  the  will  of  the  people,  and  over  100,000  of  those 
brave  Democrats  gave  their  lives  to  save  the  country  and  secure 
to  the  Republican  party  the  fruits  of  its  victory  at  the  polls. 

In  1876  the  will  or  the  people  was  again  expressed  and 
fifteen  distinct  reforms  demanded,  and  Samuel  J.  Tilden  was 
elected  President  to  carry  these  reforms  into  execution.  He  was 
not  elected  by  a  minority  of  a  million,  but  by  a  majority  over  all 
of  200,000  votes,  and  by  a  handsome  majority  of  the  electors 
actually  chosen.  When  the  will  of  the  people  was  known,  a  re¬ 
factory  element  in  the  Republican  party  in  possession  of  the 
offices  and  machinery  of  government  marshaled  the  army 
around  Washington,  distributed  the  nSy  along  our  coasts  and 
defied  the  majority  and  refused  to  jubmit  to  the  will  of  the  peo¬ 
ple.  Refused  to  admit  to  office  tl^Pofficers  elected,  and  to  carry 
into  execution  the  reforms  demanded.  The  Democratic  party 
having  faith  in  the  people,  in  their  capacity  for  self-government, 
in  their  love  of  justice  and  fair  play,  in  their  patriotism,  and  be¬ 
lieving  in  the  power  of  the  ballot,  and  loving  country  more  than 
office  and  patronage,  suffered  the  wrong  for  the  time  being,  and 
have  appealed  to  the  American  people;  that  it  may  be  determined 
whether  or  not  a  party  in  possession  of  the  offices  and  machinery 
of  government  can  be  made  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the  people 
by  peaceful  means. 


We  appeal  to  every  American  citizen,  to  every  voter  of  every 
party,  to  lend  his  influence  and  his  vote.  We  appeal  to  our  Re¬ 
publican  brothers  in  this  hour  of  the  country’s  extremity, 
when  the  will  of  the  people  has  been  defied  to  fall  into  line  until 
this  emergency  is  passed.  We  don’t  ask  that  1,200,000  of  you 
leave  your  peaceful  homes  and  engage  in  five  long  years  of 
hardships  and  fearful  blood  and  slaughter  as  1,200,000  Democrats 
did  for  your  cause.  We  don’t  ask  that  100,000  of  you  give  your 
lives  as  100,000  loyal  Democrats  gave  their  lives  for  your 
cause.  We  don’t  ask  you  to  join  us  in  the  slaughter  of  310,000  J 
of  the  refractory  element  in  your  own  party-.  No,  may  God  for¬ 
bid  that  it  shall  ever  again  in  this  country  become  necessary  to 
enforce  the  will  of  the  people  with  fire  and  sword.  But  we  do 
appeal  to  you  for  the  sake  of  outraged  justice;  for  the  sake  of 
free  government  and  its  perpetuation  in  this  country;  in  the 
name  of  the  living  and  the  dead,  to  put  aside  your  petty 
prejudiced  until  this  dark  night  is  passed,  and  give  our  cause; 
our  common  country’s  cause,  your  moral  support.  Give  us  a 
votf  where -we  gave  you  a  life.  And  assist  in  so  overwhelming 
the  defiers  of  the  will  of  the  people  by  the  moral  force  of  num¬ 
bers  of  votes,  that  they  will  see  in  these  peaceful  precursors 
the  brewing  of  impending  vengeance,  and  recognize  that  the  voice 
of  the  pa? pie  is  the  voice  of  God. 


